The Harwood Arms

The chef-owner keeps his own herd of sika deer, which is why the venison Scotch egg and the Sunday roast are the two things everyone books for.

Why go

For cooking that starts a long way upstream. This is a Michelin-starred kitchen in an 1866 Fulham beer house, and the thing that separates it is where the food comes from: the owner farms his own sika deer, the pub grows fruit and vegetables on its roof, and it "encourages sustainability by trying to use as much wild food as possible" (CAMRA). The star is carried in the 2026 London standings. Alice Savile gave it five out of five in Time Out and described exactly what the kitchen is doing: "The presentation is all fine dining fanciness, the textures are precision-honed, but the flavours are remixed versions of time-honoured British standbys" (Time Out).

The daily list is short and moves often. On Savile's visit the red deer tongue "looked as pinkly pretty as a dessert, with its delicate ruby orbs of beetroot and blobs of quince paste", and the goat's cheese and onion tart "arrived warm, wobbly and unctuous as a cheesecake". London invented the gastropub at The Eagle in 1991, and this is the only starred example of the format the city produced.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the venison Scotch egg, then whatever the deer and the roof have made possible that day. On a Sunday, the venison roast.
• Avoid: arriving without a booking, and arriving hungry with a vegan. The kitchen says it cannot cook for one.

What locals & experts say

• Tom Kerridge, chef-patron of The Hand and Flowers, in the Michelin Guide's My London series (February 2026): "The Harwood Arms. Brilliant food with a huge nod to great British produce. It's a long-standing favourite of mine." ref A chef with a starred pub of his own, naming somebody else's.
• Alice Savile, Time Out (January 2024), five stars out of five, on what the room does to you: "On first appearances, Harwood Arms is an actual, honest-to-goodness pub, the kind of place where you could wander up to the bar and sink a pint (without drowning in embarassment)." ref Then the antlers and the ostrich-feather lampshade give it away.
• CAMRA's West London branch, on the practical reality: "most or all of the seating in the evening is laid out for diners... If you come during busy periods just wanting a drink, be prepared for vertical drinking!" ref

Good to know

• Booking: essential, and CAMRA warns that Sunday lunch "may have to be prepared to book many weeks in advance".
• Diet: the kitchen states it cannot accommodate vegans, and anyone with a food allergy is told to contact it before visiting.
• Beer: one changing and one regular, Sambrook's Wandle among them, though CAMRA's beer survey is from 2013. Nobody is coming here for the bar.
• Awards: CAMRA records it as "consistently high up in the Estrella Damm national Top 50 Gastropubs awards" without giving a year or a placement, so no award row is claimed here.
• Operator: Trieamain Harwood Limited, on a Stonegate lease, freehold with Steki Investments Ltd. The cooking and the deer belong to the chef-owner.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Hammersmith and Fulham, inspected 12 February 2025. Components 5, 0 and 0, where higher is worse. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff saved this pub with no note. His raw saved-places export carries an empty Note for the row, so nothing above is in his voice and no order is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

must-visit — Build the day around it, and book long before you do. The chef-owner keeps his own herd of sika deer, the fruit and vegetables come off a rooftop garden, and the daily menu is short because both of those things dictate it. That is the part you cannot buy in, and it is why this reads differently from any other starred room in London. The star is in the 2026 standings. Alice Savile gave it five out of five in Time Out and put her finger on what the kitchen actually does: 'The presentation is all fine dining fanciness, the textures are precision-honed, but the flavours are remixed versions of time-honoured British standbys.' Tom Kerridge, who holds a star in a pub of his own, calls it 'a long-standing favourite of mine' with 'brilliant food with a huge nod to great British produce'. The venison Scotch egg and the Sunday venison roast are what people come for. Two practical things: at a busy hour the seats are laid for diners and drinkers stand, and the kitchen states plainly that it cannot cook for a vegan.